## Facts

- Milan Martić held senior political and security posts in the Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina and later the Republic of Serbian Krajina during the 1991–1995 conflict.
- Crimes were committed from about August 1991 to December 1995 in parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under Serb control.
- Martić helped create, finance, supply, train, and direct special police forces (“Martić’s Police”) and exercised effective control over them.
- The trial findings attributed to Martić participation in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) whose common purpose was to establish an ethnically Serb territory through displacement of non-Serb civilians.
- The case included allegations that Martić ordered the 2–3 May 1995 shelling of Zagreb with Orkan rockets, causing civilian deaths and injuries.
- The Trial Chamber convicted Martić of 18 of 19 counts (crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war), acquitted him of extermination, and imposed a 35-year sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether the Trial Chamber judgment satisfied the accused’s right to a reasoned opinion.
2. Whether the Trial Chamber reasonably found the existence and scope of a JCE to forcibly remove non-Serbs, and Martić’s participation in it under Article 7(1).
3. Whether the Trial Chamber erred in attributing responsibility for particular crimes by mislinking Martić to principal perpetrators or by applying incorrect modes of liability.
4. Whether challenged conduct was properly classified as persecution, deportation/forcible transfer, and unlawful attacks on civilians (including the Zagreb shelling).
5. Whether the 35-year sentence was manifestly excessive or reflected sentencing error warranting appellate intervention.

## Decision

- The Appeals Chamber largely affirmed the Trial Chamber’s convictions and upheld the 35-year sentence.
- The Appeals Chamber dismissed most appellate grounds and granted only a narrow portion of the appeal involving insufficient linkage to principal perpetrators for certain specific crimes, resulting in limited corrections.
- The Appeals Chamber affirmed core findings that Martić participated in a JCE aimed at forcibly removing non-Serbs and bore individual criminal responsibility for the bulk of the criminal conduct.
- The Appeals Chamber upheld findings that the Zagreb rocket attacks were unlawful attacks directed at civilians or carried out indiscriminately, and that Martić was tied to their planning and ordering.
- The Prosecution’s limited cross-appeal did not result in an increased sentence.

## Legal Principles

- Appellate review of facts is deferential: factual findings are not disturbed unless no reasonable trier of fact could have reached them; disagreement with evidentiary weight or interpretation is insufficient.
- A judgment is adequately reasoned if it clearly states essential factual and legal findings supporting conviction; it need not address every submission or item of evidence.
- JCE is a recognized mode of individual criminal responsibility under Article 7(1); liability depends on proof of the common purpose and the accused’s participation and contribution.
- Persecution may be established through a series of acts (e.g., killings, displacement, property destruction, attacks on civilians) committed with discriminatory intent and assessed cumulatively.
- Forced displacement across borders constitutes deportation; displacement within a state constitutes forcible transfer.
- Sentencing intervention on appeal is limited to discernible error in the exercise of discretion (irrelevant factor, failure to consider a relevant factor, or serious misweighing); gravity, scale, duration, and the accused’s position and role may support severe punishment.

## Conclusion

The ICTY Appeals Chamber affirmed Martić’s principal convictions for crimes committed in furtherance of a JCE to forcibly remove non-Serbs and upheld a 35-year sentence, making only limited liability corrections that did not alter the overall outcome.


Prosecutor v. Martić, Case No. IT-95-11-A (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia App. Ch. 2008)